Leo Varadkar (Dublin West, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

Under EU legislation, it is open to any member state to introduce road user charges if it wishes. Road charging is an important option for the funding of roads infrastructure, particularly in the context of ensuring that out-of-state hauliers contribute to the costs of a country’s road infrastructure. The new UK road user levy introduces a charge on all HGVs weighing 12 tonnes or more for use of UK roads, including those in Northern Ireland. This levy is planned to start on 1 April 2014.

I have expressed my concerns about the impact this levy will have on Irish hauliers to my UK and Northern Ireland colleagues. Furthermore, I have sought exemptions for some roads in Northern Ireland to reduce the impact on Irish hauliers. The issue has also been discussed at transport sectoral meetings of the North-South Ministerial Council in Armagh.  I will be meeting Mr. Stephen Hammond, MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Transport, on Thursday and I intend to raise this issue directly with him again.

Following consultation with the Minister for the Environment, Community and Local Government, I have established a cross-departmental working group to examine the feasibility of introducing a road charging scheme for HGVs in the medium term.  The group began its work in January and is due to report by the middle of this year. The development of a road charging scheme for HGVs is one of my priorities for 2014. Obviously, the introduction of any such regime raises a number of issues and will require input from a wide variety of Departments and agencies.  These issues include the Exchequer impact of a road charging scheme, how it would work, the effect it would have on imports and exports, the technology involved in such a system, compliance with European legislation and how the system would be enforced.

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